Cylient CEO Dianna Anderson explains why coaching is no longer optional—and how it empowers leaders to untie communication knots and drive meaningful change.
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Show Notes:
In this episode of Mission Matters, host Adam Torres interviews Dianna Anderson, Co-Founder and CEO of Cylient, about the evolution and global impact of “coaching in the moment.” Dianna shares how her early career in change management led to a passion for helping people have productive, insight-driven conversations that spark lasting transformation. Learn how her approach is creating shared language, shifting leadership paradigms, and driving cultural change inside organizations of all sizes.
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About Dianna Anderson
Dianna Anderson is the CEO and visionary behind Cylient, where she developed a groundbreaking system for building coaching cultures across organizations of all sizes. Recognized by Forbes as a trailblazer in this space, Dianna has dedicated her career to making coaching a natural part of everyday leadership and communication.
Her signature Untying the Knot® methodology has helped thousands of people around the world bring coaching and feedback into the flow of daily work—strengthening collaboration, connection, and innovation.
Before launching Cylient, Dianna led large-scale change management initiatives as a consultant and became one of the early graduates of Coach University in 1996. She co-authored Coaching that Counts, which articulates the ROI of coaching in business, and held the Master Certified Coach credential from the International Coach Federation for over 20 years. Dianna also holds an MBA from the Ivey School of Business in Canada.
About Cylient
Cylient specializes in building Safe and Seen coaching cultures that support transformative, organization-wide change. Its flagship programs—Coaching in the Moment® and Feedback in the Moment®—offer a practical, accessible, and scalable approach to coaching-based leadership for organizations of all sizes.
With a dynamic and collaborative process, Cylient works closely with clients to ensure coaching practices align with their unique culture. The result is a vibrant environment where in-the-moment conversations drive connection, insight, and innovation. Cylient is more than a training provider—it’s a true partner in making coaching a sustainable way of life.
Full Unedited Transcript
Hey, I’d like to welcome you to another episode of Mission Matters. My name is Adam Torres, and if you’d like to apply to be a guest on the show, just head on over to mission matters.com and click on Be Our Guest to Apply. All right, so today I have Dianna Anderson on the line, and she’s co-founder and CEO over Cylient.
Dianna, welcome the show. Thanks for having me, Adam. Great to be here. Alright, so we, we got a lot to cover today. I’m excited to get further into your concept and why in the moment coaching is a skill for the future and even what in the moment coaching means. So to go into your, into your process and a bunch of different things we’ll cover there.
But just to get us kicked off, we’ll start this episode the way that we start them all with what we like to call our mission matters minute. So Dianna, at Mission Matters, our aim and our goal is to amplify stories for entrepreneurs, executives, and, and, and organizations. That’s our mission. Dianna, what mission matters to you?
You know, my personal mission and that also of Cient is to equip everyone in the world to have meaningful, productive conversations that create the kinda change that matters to them. Hmm. It’s great love bringing Mission matters individuals on the line to share, you know, why they do what they do, how they do it, and what we can all learn from that.
So we grow together. So, good, good thing there. Let’s just start at the beginning. So co-founder of Cient. What inspired, you know, bringing this, this company to the market? Well, it’s kind of a, a story of my own really. I, it began with me back in the early nineties going through change management.
That’s where I began my career and then happened to read one of the very first articles about the profession, the new profession of coaching in the mid nineties. And so I became a professional coach and then I found a. Soon as I was started coaching, I was just coaching everybody to take a coaching approach to their day-to-day challenges.
And coupled with having the opportunity to co-write the very first bur books, excuse me, on the ROI of coaching, all of this kind of came together for me and I saw that coaching was just really a basic human skill that was essential for leadership and needed to be scaled, but. No one was doing that.
And so Cient was really born from my desire to take what was really, I could see helping people make profound change in their lives and make it accessible to everyone. So yeah, that’s where it came from. When did, you know, I’m always curious when, you know, somebody enters the coaching profession or is even helping other coaches, like, when did you know that, like you were cut out for this work where you’re like, yeah, this is, this is my thing.
I’m always so curious about that. Well, what was really interesting was when I was doing large scale change managements, which was really just re-engineering back in the nineties, I found that a lot of the more senior leaders would come and just wanna talk to me. Like our, our project executive used to have like a standing, like monthly like dinner with me just to talk about things were going on.
So I, I wasn’t so, I was young, I wasn’t, I’m like, that’s curious, but it’s, I think, ’cause I could see patterns and things and so. Coaching had not been invented in the nineties. Like literally. I think Thomas sure people don’t know that, but yeah, it was a new, yeah, well but you know, as it is currently being practiced as a profession, I think it really kind of blossomed in the nineties.
And I would say, because actually Thomas Leonard, who was the founder of the International Coach Federation, but also the founder of Coach University, which is where I was trained saw the potential. For this to be a way of life. So anyway as soon as I read the first article about what coaching could potentially be, I’m like, oh yeah, that’s what really I enjoyed most about the change management that I did.
So. Talk talk to me about like developing your process and also and, and what your process even looks like at Cient. Like, like how did that evolution take place if it wasn’t evolution, by the way? Oh, very much, very much an evolution. Yeah. When I began trying to teach people how to have coaching conversations, i, well, I was never taught a process and I found that they were just kind of, I remember talking with somebody and she was just like randomly generating questions. I’m like, where are you going with that? She goes, I got no idea. And I thought, well, I go, that’s fair ’cause I haven’t really given you something.
So I thought, well what is coaching? And it, I was just hit by this idea that it’s untying knots, so our approach is. Resilient is called untying the knot. And as I went on to teach hundreds and hundreds of people, every time I would see they had a knot about coaching, I would just invent another way of untying that knot and igniting the kinds of insights.
Help people very quickly wire up an understanding of what coaching is and how it worked and how they could do it. So all the pieces have just come from me interacting with very gracious participants of our workshop called Coaching In the moment that I’ve learned from until the point that, you know, I’ve been doing this for so long, that we were able to codify untying the Knot as a really replicable process that we have found.
Has worked for everybody all the way around the world because as a simple metaphor, there isn’t anyone that can’t understand it, remember it and use it, so, mm-hmm. I like that word codify. And also just the systems that come with that. Can you maybe let us, like, give, give us a little bit of a bird’s eye view of what it looks like to do that and to, and to kind of keep what works and get rid of what doesn’t throughout the years.
Like, I’m like, how did that develop? Oh, in terms of how I developed the process, terms the processes. Right. So you said that like when you’re on time, when you’re adding these new pieces to it, like, and you’ve been doing it for so long, like how, how did the programs develop? I. Well, the, the real history of it is after I co-wrote a, a book called Coaching that Counts, organizations got interested in having us come in and sort of teach them some of the things that we had learned about the ROI of coaching.
Mm-hmm. So we started just kind of fumbling around and then literally it was listening to participants. Like even coaching in the moment, I remember that was just a segment of one of the first classes we taught and someone’s like, I just watched their eyes light up when they’re like in the moment coaching.
That’s it. I’m like, I think you’re right. So that’s how you know those just, yeah. I just would watch people or when like really bright people were stuck, I would like, I would just get curious. I would use my own process, which is you get curious if a, not, if something’s not happening, this is how it works.
There’s a nod. So I’m like, this person is not getting how to coach. Like, hmm, like what’s the knot? And I would get curious about where they were stuck and I’m like, oh, that’s what they’re not seeing about it. And then I’d have to go and invent a way of igniting the insight that would help them move through that.
So. Yeah, so we also, we use a lot of listening exercises that was also part of the evolution, which is actually kind of a funny story. I, when I was creating, you know, an coaching in the moment, which is, you know, a standup like leadership development workshop. I had no experience teaching workshops and I was terrified.
I’m like, oh my gosh. So I took improv to get over my fear of being in front of the class and the improv teacher. I, I started, she became a friend and I was sharing her with her this challenge I was having about. Creating situations where people could kind of experience and imagine coaching. And I told her I was trying to.
Do this through listening exercises, and she helped me kind of learn how to go into the studio and write these things and find the voice talent to create really realistic listening exercises. So again, that was part of the evolution as well. So, wow. What a the way you described this, this is quite a, quite a creative process.
Yes. Oh yeah. Yeah. It’s been a creative challenge from, from beginning to end. Yeah. Let’s go further into into what I, because I, I want like some of the terms that you use that are specific to yourself and so for example, in the moment, like what does that mean? Like in the moment coaching or coaching in the moment, what does that mean?
I. What it means is using a coaching based approach, literally in the flow of work. And what we say is that you problem solve things. So you use your linear, logical mind when you’re trying to solve a technical, tactical thing, but if you discover that you have a challenge with a person, maybe they don’t get that logic or they’re not with you.
Yeah. There’s, there’s a nod As soon as you say something’s not happening, what I would mm-hmm. People is switch and switch into a coaching based approach, which means choose to get curious about how the other person sees this thing. And we have different kinds of knots that we teach people. Like, so like what kind of knot is this person experiencing?
Yeah. And how can you ignite an insight that will help them to see a new possibility? Hmm. So, yeah, it’s, so again, I really think the, the mastery and what we teach, you know, at coaching in the moment is that mm-hmm. The real mastery of leadership is the ability to flow between these two approaches to leadership.
Mm-hmm. As needs be in the flow of work. What types of organizations do you find at the most value out of working with you and your team? Whether it’s size of, is it like agnostic on industry? Does it certain industries versus others? Is it size of organization? Like who, who typically gets the most benefit?
I wouldn’t say it’s the size. I would say it’s actually the thinking of the organization. Hmm. I find that. Companies. So we work with companies of all sizes. We’ve worked with, you know, fortune 100 companies, and we’ve worked with you know, small companies and everybody in the middle, and we’ve worked all around the world.
And we haven’t found a place that coaching in the moment didn’t fit. Mostly because we say if something’s not happening, there’s a knot. And we just say to the people, what’s your knot? Like, what are you not experiencing? Yeah. And so everyone fills in the blank in a way that’s meaningful for them.
Mm-hmm. But I think the value really is derived by the companies who dive the deepest into this work. Mm-hmm. And really see that untying the knot is not just a way of having conversations, but actually can be transformative to their culture. Yeah. And create a more balanced approach to leadership and becomes a shared language that anybody in the organization can use to have meaningful conversations about change.
Mm-hmm. So. When organizations get that, and particularly when senior leaders lean into really using the depth of what’s available to them. Yeah. They gain the greatest value. Hmm. Now I know coaching in the moment, that’s the flagship product that, that you, that you offer, but there’s also feedback in the moment and maybe talk touch on that one a bit.
Yeah. Feedback in the moment builds on coaching in the moment. Mm-hmm. And it teaches people again, how to offer feedback just in the flow of work. And I. We separate it because it does a couple of things. One is to really offer appreciative feedback that’s gonna land that people are take action on.
You really have to understand both how people think. Yeah. And also how to inspire people to choose to change. So we teach people how to do both of those things so they can add feedback into their in the moment coaching kind of toolkit, if you will. And. We say by the time you’re done, the two of those, you really have the complete toolkit to be, have, be able to have any kind of sort of human change based type conversation you’d expect a leader to have in the flow of work.
Talk about the, the delivery of, of any of these programs, by the way, and what it looks like, like time, time commitment. I know sometimes when somebody watches a program like this and they’re like, oh, well this sounds amazing, but like, what’s this gonna, like, what, what’s gonna be the time and things involved to, you know, to get the benefit.
Yeah. So coaching in the moment can be done. Instructor led, so with a group of 24 people in a room, by the way, when it’s done that way, PowerPoint free. It’s just a day of experience and conversation. People are so happy at the end of it. Yeah. And they can’t believe eight hours have passed an entire day PowerPoint free.
I’ll take it and go. Yeah. It’s all done by listening exercises and conversation and experience. We, we embody what coaching is. In the learning experience. Mm-hmm. And you never coach at somebody. So you always coach with, so why would you ever teach at someone We always teach with. So it’s fun. We also do two half day experiences virtually.
’cause the pandemic made us all fantastic at virtual delivery. Yeah. And people all love our delivery again, because we don’t do it the standard way. We get everybody involved, everyone’s participating. So it’s great fun. Or we’ve also broken the. Coaching in the moment up into two pieces. So you can just do the first four hours separately and then do the other, you know, at another time if you choose to.
So, yeah, those are the main deliveries and they’re always a ton of fun. Like we really believe that people learn more and faster when they’re having fun. So that’s our priority as you go through, you know, and I know you’ve done a ton of these by the way, and, and you work with many organizations, but, and when you go in, in a new organization, like what, and you go to the other side and you see people go through the programs when talk about some of the outcomes and maybe even some of the surprises where you’re like, wow, this was, you know, this is.
I knew what I was doing was meaningful, but this even shocked me, like, talk, talk about some of the, the outcomes. Yeah. I, I, it just so thrills me when I hear people say they walked outta the, a conver or they walked outta the workshop and immediately had conversations they just didn’t know how to have before they walked in.
Yeah. We just hear that constantly. One of the ones that really blew me away was related to me by I think a B VP of L and d. Mm-hmm. And she said, you know, unbeknownst to you when you were teaching that workshop, there were two. Very senior leaders in the room and they really have hated each other for a long time.
Okay. And their, their organizations also could not work together ’cause they couldn’t. And they had two organizations that really needed to you know, be more collaborative. And she said they walked out, they looked at each other and they said, we have nots. You and I, and apparently they sat down and they used the untying the knot approach to understand where the knots Wow were that were keeping them from, you know being able to work together.
Wow. And they were able to resolve, you know, as it was put to me, they weren’t gonna be sending each other holiday cards, but they, they developed a, a working relationship which not only impacted them, which is progress. But it went through the entire division. It was like once the senior leaders could talk to each other, everyone else felt like they could too.
Mm-hmm. So it had ma massive, massive change. Yeah. Yeah. And that’s the power of conversation. You know, when you can’t talk about something, you can’t change it. Mm-hmm. But as soon as you empower people to have appreciative and productive conversations mm-hmm. These kinds of feelings that feel just permanently stuck.
Can be resolved. And what’s interesting to me too is that prior to that they didn’t have the vocabulary. ’cause that’s not intuitive to say we got some knots to untie. Yeah. Well here’s the thing, like the language. Well, exactly right. And, and the power is that knots to illuminate patterns. Like they literally, it’s a way of seeing a pattern.
Mm-hmm. And we get until you can see that there’s a pattern of disconnect. You are powerless to change it. Yeah. But as soon as you’re like, oh, the, these are the things that are getting in the way. Mm-hmm. You are able to focus on them, and that empowers everyone to focus on what is gonna make the biggest difference with the least amount of effort, and that’s how really efficient and effective change happens.
Yeah. Dianna, this has been great having you on today. I just have to ask, I mean, what’s next? What’s next for you? What’s next for for your company? Well, I am working on a book right now. Ooh. I like that. We like offers here. Yeah. Working on a book to really help people see the essence of what. I’ve been sharing with you.
Mm-hmm. Which is I think that our approaches to leadership have fallen out of alignment with the realities of our complex moments. So the book I’m working on really helps people see that and to find a path through to something that’s more in alignment. So, yeah. Dianna, if somebody’s listening or watching this, and if they wanna follow up and connect and learn more, how do they do that?
Well, they can certainly look me up on LinkedIn. Um, it’s Dianna Anderson with two Ns in an A and Anderson, SON, or you can check out our website, www.cient.com. Mm-hmm. C-Y-L-I-E-N t.com. And uh, [email protected]. Also a great way to reach me. Mm-hmm. Perfect. And for everybody watching, just so you know, we’ll put links in the show notes so you can click on ’em and head right on over.
And speaking of the audience, if this is your first time with Mission Matters and you haven’t done it yet, hit that subscribe or follow button. This is a daily show. Each and every day we’re bringing you new content, new ideas, and hopefully new inspiration to help you along in your journey as well. So again, hit that subscribe or follow button.
And Dianna, thanks again for coming on the show. It’s been so much fun. Oh, thanks for having me, Adam.